MUSCAT – The Memorandum of Understanding, signed by the governments of Oman and India during the recent visit of Indian prime minister, will benefit Indian workers as it promises many safeguards by both sides, says a top Indian government official.

The financial institutional systems in India are stable and since the economy is growing it is the right time to invest in India, assures K. Mohandas, secretary in the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs in an exclusive interview with Times of Oman. He asserted that in the present financial crisis, India is the right destination for investments.

“Since the Indian regulatory system has taken care of these financial institutions, they do not have the crises that their counterparts are undergoing in the rest of the world. Most of the banks and financial institutions, especially the bigger ones, are in the public sector. They have not gone out of the way with substandard lending. So, the financial institutional systems in India are stable and the economy is growing,” he said.

Mohandas admitted that there was a tremendous financial slowdown throughout the world, and the impact of this had also been felt in India, but the country was not very much affected.

He noted that even the conservative projections about the growth rate of the economy indicated that the economy would grow at 7.5 per cent as against 9 per cent, which was projected earlier.

“In an economy which is growing at 7.5 per cent, perhaps the fastest growing economy in the world, there are bound to be opportunities. It is possible to turn crisis into an opportunity. And that would be the message that I would like to give to the prospective investors from Oman,” he told Times hours before his address at the Overseas Indian Facilitation Centre (OIFC) Global Investors Meet, organised by the Indian embassy at Hotel Crown Plaza yesterday.

Asked about the areas where the financial crisis would hugely affect, Mohandas, a 1974 batch Indian Administrative Officer (IAS), said the real estate sector had probably become stagnant and exports would be slightly affected if the demand abroad goes down.

“Remittances from abroad do benefit if there is an increase in the value of rupee,” he said, adding that the overall picture about the Indian economy was that it had a silver lining even in the present situation.

“Nobody expects the present economic crisis to last very long because now the economic cycles are relatively short. This means that for long gestation projects this is the right time to invest. If you have liquidity and if you have cash available this is the time to invest,” he said.

Asked if the Global Meet had been planned to comfort investors in view of the financial melt down, Mohandas laughed it off saying that the meet was supposed to be held earlier and not in view of the present crisis.

He also pointed out that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s recent visit to Oman was a confidence-building measure. “Whatever goodwill has been thrown up on account of the prime minister’s visit would definitely be useful now. Manmohan Singh himself has given some statements on the status of Indian economy which are quite confidence building for the investor,” he said.

Speaking about the steps taken by his ministry to safeguard the interest of Indian workers in Oman, Mohandas highlighted that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) had been signed between the Oman and Indian governments during the prime minister’s visit which promises lots of safeguards by either side.

“The MoU will facilitate the recruitment of Indian manpower, it will define the broad employment procedure for Indian workers, responsibilities of the employers and workers will be listed out, protection and welfare of workers and authentication of work contract have been listed out in the MoU,” he said. Mohandas said as part of the implementation of this mechanisms, there would be a joint committee of officers of both sides who would meet periodically and would give effect to various clauses quoted in the MoU.

“The committee will be set up soon,” he said.


Asked if there was any plan to wipe out illegal recruitment agencies in the country, Mohandas who had earlier worked as special secretary in the Finance Ministry, said that public campaigns through newspapers and visual media had reduced the rise of illegal agencies to an extent.

“Whenever a case is being reported, the concerned recruitment agent is also proceeded against. If the agent is doing any malpractices, then he is prosecuted and his licence is cancelled,” he noted.

Mohandas also informed Times that the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs planned to start a university exclusively for NRI students and the right had been given to the Manipal group, which would set up the university in Bangalore by 2010.

The university will give 50 per cent seats to NRI students and the rest to regular Indian students.

“Manipal, as you know, is a world class university and they have partnered with us in this project. It will be a purely private affair but will be facilitated by the government,” he said, adding that the Ministry would target NRIs from countries such as Fiji and Mauritius.

“We chose these countries as they are financially poorer and starting a university will benefit the students from these countries,” he added.